Summit Brewing Co. Wins Bronze Medal at 2018 World Beer Cup®

Friday, May 4, 2018, By Summit Brewing

Summit Keller Pils Wins Its First World Beer Cup® Medal.

Summit Brewing Company’s Keller Pils was awarded the Bronze Medal in the Kellerbier or Zwickelbier category at this year’s World Beer Cup® in Nashville, Tennessee. Produced by the Brewers Association—the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American craft brewers—the World Beer Cup competition was introduced in 1996 to celebrate the art and science of brewing by recognizing outstanding achievement. 2018’s awards were the largest competition to date, featuring over 8,200 entries from 66 countries.

“It all comes back to the ingredients with this beer,” says Summit Brewing Co. Head Brewer Damian McConn. “Summit Keller Pils features all German ingredients and is brewed in an all German copper brew house, and I’m a purist for things like that — brewing a traditional, award-winning German-style beer like Keller Pils on a German system, rather than a U.S. or British one. I don’t want to force a square peg in a round hole. The gods of beer would rebel against that.”

Summit Brewers James Fetherston (left) and James Birnie (right) accept the award with Charlie Papazian, founder and past president of the Brewers Association.

An esteemed panel of 295 judges from 33 countries evaluated 8,234 beers over the course of three days, with those beers coming from 2,515 breweries in all. Judges awarded 302 bronze, silver and gold medals across 101 beer style categories on May 3, 2018.

This is the first such medal for Summit Keller Pils, which was recognized in 2016 as the number two pilsner in the world in a Paste Magazine blind tasting. Summit Extra Pale Ale, however, has won multiple medals at World Beer Cups past, with a gold coming in 2010 and silvers in both 2012 and 2014.